TVT Lighting Columnist Bill Klages to Be Inducted into Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame

HOLLYWOOD—Bill Klages, lighting columnist for TV Technology, will be inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Klages, winner of seven Primetime Emmy Awards, joins a prestigious group of inductees that also includes Chuck Lorre, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, Sherman Hemsley, Mary-Ellis Bunim & Jonathan Murray, Mario Kreutzberger (aka “Don Francisco”) and Michael Eisner. The nominees will be inducted in a ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel, March 1, 2012.

Bill Klages has been associated with some of the most outstanding productions in television history. After establishing his reputation at NBC with the dramatic series “Playwrights ’56,” Klages lighted landmark shows of early television starring entertainment legends Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Ernie Kovacs and Perry Como. In the decades that followed, Klages lighted an array of acclaimed entertainment specials and award shows including “The Kraft Music Hall,” “My Name Is Barbra,” “Night of 100 Stars,” “Sills and Burnett at the Met,” “Baryshnikov by Tharp,” “The Tony Awards,” “The Emmy Awards,” “The Kennedy Center Honors,” “Sweeney Todd ,” “The Grammy Awards” and many others.

Major events he has designed include the 1984 Olympics Closing Ceremonies and the “Liberty Weekend” Statue of Liberty celebration, as well as four Republican National Conventions. KIages has provided television lighting-facility design for the 16,000-seat Lakewood Church in Houston, the 21,000-seat Latter Day Saints Convention Center in Salt Lake City, the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas and numerous other studios and venues. He has also conducted seminars throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. In 2004, he received the “Distinguished Achievement Award in Lighting Design” from the United States Institute of Theatre Technology and was named “Lighting Designer of the Year” at the 2002 LDI Convention. Along with his seven Primetime Emmy wins, Klages has received twenty-one Emmy nominations, as well as Monitor and Ace Awards.

Klages pens the monthly “Lighting Technology” column for TV Technology.